Bloggers on the latest from the Middle East.

Bloggers on the latest from the Middle East.

Furor Over Qana

Bloggers speculate about the fallout from the Israeli airstrike on Qana that killed dozens of civilians. They also react to the Times critique of Joe Lieberman and have a laugh at Mel Gibson's expense.

Furor over Qana: An Israeli helicopter reportedly killed more than 50 civilians when it bombed a building in Qana, Lebanon, this weekend. In response, Israel enacted a 48-hour cease-fire but said it would continue to launch strikes to stop imminent attacks by Hezbollah.

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At The Left Coaster, Steve Soto worries that America's reputation will suffer for Israel's mistakes: "The Bush Administration's 'hands-off' foreign policy has crashed and burned now, and we are being dragged down the hell hole with Israel as a result of this attack and our enabling of it."

Augustus Norton at Speaking Truth to Power sympathizes with Lebanese who lack the means to flee targeted areas: "While it is true that Israel has dropped leaflets warning people to leave the south in conjunction with turning the region into a killing box, this is not exculpatory. Had Israel permitted the residents safe passage and an interval to leave their case would be stronger." At Informed Comment, Middle Eastern studies professor Juan Cole also takes Israel to task for what he considers indiscriminate ethnic cleansing: "In other words, the Israelis are engaged in collective punishment on a vast scale. They maintain that rocket launching sites are embedded in these villages. But since Hizbullah keeps firing large numbers of rockets, it does not actually appear to be the case that the Israelis are hitting the rocket launchers. They are demonstrably hitting civilian houses and apartment buildings in a methodical way."

At Captain's Quarters, conservative Ed Morrissey, while cautioning that "civilian deaths should be avoided," points out that Israel is not alone in targeting civilians. "[Hezbollah] routinely position[s] their fighters among civilian populations and dress them to blend into residential neighborhoods. Civilian deaths are not collateral damage in Hezbollah's strategy, but a key component of their battle plan. So let's hear a little less moral outrage over Qana, and let's start hearing a lot more moral outrage over Hezbollah's tactics." Conservative AJ Strata at The Strata-Spheremakes much of photos showing militants stationed in suburban Lebanon.

Righty Confederate Yankee is among the many bloggers suspicious of the hours that passed between the Israeli bombing and the building's collapse, positing that the massacre was staged.

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Read more about the Qana bombing. Watch an IDF video showing rockets being launched from Qana.

Saying "no" to Joe: The New York Times has endorsed dark horse candidate Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman in the race for Lieberman's Senate seat. The editorial criticizes the senator for his "warped version of bipartisanship" that consists of stubborn appeasement of the Bush administration. The Washington Postcounters with an editorial endorsing Lieberman for his rare gift of compromise.

Liberal Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeftobserves, "The papers agree on one thing: Lieberman's stance on Iraq has put him in this mess. While other Democrats also voted for the Iraq War, most have come around since by calling for withdrawal of our troops at the earliest opportunity, whether by a timetable or not."

Contributor Henry at academic group blog Crooked Timbertraces the editorial brouhaha to the netroots. "I just can't imagine that the dueling editorials in the Times and the Post would have happened if the blogs hadn't consistently and relentlessly framed Lieberman's problem as a fawning and corrupt bipartisan deference to a president gone crazy." But writing at DailyKos, DemFromCT plays down the role of the liberal blogosphere: "The problem that Joe has had in painting Lamont supporters as far-left blogger-driven fringe people is that just about none of it is true. In an earlier post today, I referenced many of the quotes from local voters who have many issues with Joe from a long-standing and general lack of attention to CT issues, to his stance on nationalizing Terri Schiavo's case, school vouchers, and the Alito confirmation in addition to his stance on the Iraq War."

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Curious Sam at Irregular Timespoints out that liberal backlash has been a long time in the making: "Lieberman has been a stain on the Democratic Party for years, long before the Iraq War was begun. Starting with Lieberman's preaching condemnation of Bill Clinton's personal life, and extending through the drag of his religious preoccupations on Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, many of the Democratic Party's most devastating defeats have been due in large part to Lieberman's insistence in promoting a narrow, restrictive vision of what it means to be an American."

A bigoted bender: Mel Gibson was in an anti-Semitic mood when he was arrested for driving under the influence early Friday morning. The police report claims that he repeatedly cursed Jews and held them responsible for all the world's violence.

Andrew Sullivanscolds the BBC, Reuters, and other news agencies for omitting some of Gibson's more egregious statements from their coverage: "Now we have almost surreally graphic evidence of the mindset behind the director of 'The Passion of the Christ.' And the MSM censor it. Once again, the blogopshere is providing far more information than the mainstream."

At the Huffington Post,prominent Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel urges the industry expel Mel: "People in the entertainment community, whether Jew or gentile, need to demonstrate that they understand how much is at stake in this by professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with him, even if it means a sacrifice to their bottom line."

Read more about Gibson's brush with the law. In Slate, Timothy Noah peruses the police report, Kim Masters asks if Hollywood will abandon Gibson, and Christopher Hitchens says that Gibson's history of anti-Semitism "is not just proved by his twistedly homoerotic spank-movie The Passion of the Christ."